Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08), Briefing.com reports. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.400-9.600 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $9.40-9.60 EPS.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI traded down $2.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $170.17. The stock had a trading volume of 2,870,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,237,463. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.